In pathological diagnosis, specifying the kind and expression amount of protein overexpressing in a sample, such as tissue slice, is very important information for prognostic expectation and for determination of future treatment plan.
For example, the expression of Ki67 protein, which is a protein expressed in a cell nucleus during cell division, is evaluated in order to determine the proliferation and/or malignancy of various kinds of tumor.
According to the technique described in Patent Document 1, the risk of cancer relapse is determined from cells collected from a breast cancer patient, for example, on the basis of the number of cells in which Ki67 protein is expressed or the expression amount of Ki67 protein.